Post by giovanni on Oct 24, 2006 14:36:04 GMT
THE MASONIC DRESS
Bro. Giovanni Lombardo
Lodge Room International Magazine, issue 11, November 2006
The Masonic dress of brothers in lodge essentially consists of the plain white lambskin apron, and white gloves. Both of these items have ritual and symbolic significance to a Mason. In addition, officers wear collars with declare their station. From these collars depend what we refer to as Jewels; the Square of the Master, the Level of the Senior Warden, the Plumb of the Junior Warden, the Crossed Quills of the Secretary, the Crossed Keys of the Treasurer, the Harp of the Organist, the Square and Compass surrounding the shining sun of the Senior Deacon, the square and compass surrounding the Crescent Mood of the Junior Deacon, the Cornucopia of the Stewards and the Sword of the Tyler.
Each of these jewels has ritual and symbolic significance of their own, in addition to declaring which officer is which. And on one brother, the master of the lodge, is the hat, usually a top hat, though in some jurisdictions it can be a cowboy hat, a beret, or a hat chosen by the master. Of course, in some jurisdictions, the master does not wear a hat at all.
We are taught in ritual that in ancient times, stonecutters wore a lambskin apron, longer than the ones in use today. These aprons were strong enough to protect the wearer from splinters, scrapes and keep their clothing from being soiled while working in stone. This danger no longer exists as we are speculative, not operative masons, so the apron today is symbolic. It represents the purity of conduct so essentially necessary to gain admission into the great lodge above. As with everything in Masonry, the apron also has a deeper and more esoteric meaning.
The apron is most often made of lambskin (or a reasonable facsimile) though there are also aprons available in many lodges that are cloth or even silk. Many believe that the lambskin apron should still bear the wool, this being an animal fibre, in an esoteric sense, it can then act as insulator.
The apron’s shape is that of a square, with a triangular flap on it. The square symbolizes the matter while the triangle, the vertex of which is up, reminds us of the alchemic symbol of fire, thus symbolizing the zeal that pushes Freemasons toward heaven, the siege of the Supreme Being.
The apron also represents a Broached Thurnel, when the flap is turned up. This is particularly symbolic of several things in most United States Rituals. The Broached Thurnel is a symbol that has been dropped from the ritual, while it is retained in the way an Entered Apprentice is taught to wear his apron.
The apron covers the genitalia’s region, thus isolating it from the rest of the body. In order to work properly to the glory of the Grand Architect, as we are taught, all freemasons must learn to subdue their passions within proper bounds.
Entered Apprentices wear their apron keeping the flap up: this further precaution is to protect the epigastrium, the part of human body which is immediately over the stomach. This is where the manipura chakra is located. The passions’ chakra corresponds to the solar plexus. The Entered Apprentice’s job is to learn to subdue his passions, for like the youth the degree symbolizes, the Entered Apprentice is considered unable to control incoming energies satisfactorily. Therefore, it is expedient that they protect themselves and the brethren adequately.
We have already noticed that the apron of the Entered Apprentice recalls the Broached Thurnel. This is a symbol which pertains to masters: the matter – the square – is turned into the spiritual: the triangle. The entered apprentice wears the apron with the top turned up to act as a ‘reminder’, showing to him the task which he must carry out. Conversely, Fellow Crafts and Master Masons keep the flap down: this means that the mental and the spiritual, respectively, closely interact with matter, as it happens in the symbolism of David’s star.
White gloves are the other item of the Masonic dress. In Italy, it is compulsory to wear them in each lodge’s meeting, as long as the meeting lasts. The only exception, is, when the brethren form the union’s chain at the close of lodge. In that case, hands must be bare so that the subtle energies of the Brethren can circulate more easily.
Gloves are symbol of purity: being hands symbol of human actions. Wearing the gloves reminds us of that purity and innocence with which we must work, performing only pure acts. Gloves, however, are also a tool: in the Temple everything is sacred, so nothing can be touched, but by pure hands.
It is worth noting that in old catholic liturgy, only popes and bishops could wear white gloves, thus evoking the hands of Jacob, that were covered with “the skins of the kids of the goats”.(1) We know that the name “Jacob” means “the substitute”, hence the idea of regeneration, of a new man that takes the place of the old one, like light which drives darkness away.
According the ritual of Grande Oriente d’Italia, the Entered Apprentice receives two pairs of gloves: one for himself and the other one for his “perfect lunar polarity”. He should give that other pair to the woman in whom he bears the utmost esteem. It is difficult to determine when this practice started, though there is a small hint in Pérau in 1742, though it is thought this use is far older.(2) Masonic history informs us that Bro. Goethe gifted his second pair of gloves to Mrs. Von Stein, remarking that “even if the gift was seemingly poor, nonetheless it had a particular feature, that is, it can be given by a Freemason “only once in his life”.
Master Masons should cover their head when they work in the third degree. The reason of this use lies in the esoteric feature of hair. Henry Allaix wrote that hair works like a receiving set, while beard and moustache are thought to emit energy.(3) In ancient times, Christian monks received a tonsure, which removed the hair on their heads, but they did not shave. So the master covers his head thus showing he refuses any external influences.
Other interpretations are however possible. From the ritual we are learned that the Lodge begins to work when it is properly tiled. On the other side, every human body is the “temple of the Holy Ghost”(4), so the Master Mason who covers his head actually tiles his own temple. Still today, in their temples where they are appearing before G-D, observant Jews wear the kippah, and in Italy many Master Masons do the same.
Last, but not the least, few words about the tunic. (fig. 1)
In Italy, during the two world wars, Freemasons wore it. The tunic is black, and its color reminds us of the importance of the hermetic work’s phase which is called Crow’s head, or nigredo.(5) There is a deep esoteric meaning in wearing the tunic, for it teaches the brethren to give up vanity and any outer difference. In wearing the tunic, they are really meeting on the level.
As is taught in the first degree, when the candidate is neither naked nor clad, it is not the outer qualifications that make a man a mason, but the inner. The tunic makes all equal. The tunic also resembles the symbol of death, the grim reaper. In this sense, the tunic represents to the candidate the death of profanity, the rebirth into the new light. The candidate is visually reminded of the death of the old, and thereby the rebirth, into the new.
Today, the tunic is worn by the Marshall when he escorts the Candidate into the Temple for the ceremony of initiation. The tunic’s shape stems from the cross of Malta, being a folded cross. (fig. 2)
We know that the cross can be inscribed in the square, symbol of matter, but also in the circle, symbol of spirit, thus alluding to the transformation which is gained by the initiate who has purified his heart and his mind and is therefore worthy to “ascend into the hill of Lord”.(6)
1) Genesis: 27,16
2) Gabriel Louis Pérau, L’ordre des Francs-Maçons trahi et les secret des Mopses révelé, 1742, quoted by Irène Manguy, La Symbolique maçonnique du troisième millénaire, Paris 2001. Italian translation 2004, p. 100, footnote 11.
3) Introduction à l’étude de la Magie, 1936
4) I Corinthians, 6: 19
5) See Chamber of Reflection in this Review, issue 6, June 2006
6) Psalm XXIV
Bro. Giovanni Lombardo
Lodge Room International Magazine, issue 11, November 2006
The Masonic dress of brothers in lodge essentially consists of the plain white lambskin apron, and white gloves. Both of these items have ritual and symbolic significance to a Mason. In addition, officers wear collars with declare their station. From these collars depend what we refer to as Jewels; the Square of the Master, the Level of the Senior Warden, the Plumb of the Junior Warden, the Crossed Quills of the Secretary, the Crossed Keys of the Treasurer, the Harp of the Organist, the Square and Compass surrounding the shining sun of the Senior Deacon, the square and compass surrounding the Crescent Mood of the Junior Deacon, the Cornucopia of the Stewards and the Sword of the Tyler.
Each of these jewels has ritual and symbolic significance of their own, in addition to declaring which officer is which. And on one brother, the master of the lodge, is the hat, usually a top hat, though in some jurisdictions it can be a cowboy hat, a beret, or a hat chosen by the master. Of course, in some jurisdictions, the master does not wear a hat at all.
We are taught in ritual that in ancient times, stonecutters wore a lambskin apron, longer than the ones in use today. These aprons were strong enough to protect the wearer from splinters, scrapes and keep their clothing from being soiled while working in stone. This danger no longer exists as we are speculative, not operative masons, so the apron today is symbolic. It represents the purity of conduct so essentially necessary to gain admission into the great lodge above. As with everything in Masonry, the apron also has a deeper and more esoteric meaning.
The apron is most often made of lambskin (or a reasonable facsimile) though there are also aprons available in many lodges that are cloth or even silk. Many believe that the lambskin apron should still bear the wool, this being an animal fibre, in an esoteric sense, it can then act as insulator.
The apron’s shape is that of a square, with a triangular flap on it. The square symbolizes the matter while the triangle, the vertex of which is up, reminds us of the alchemic symbol of fire, thus symbolizing the zeal that pushes Freemasons toward heaven, the siege of the Supreme Being.
The apron also represents a Broached Thurnel, when the flap is turned up. This is particularly symbolic of several things in most United States Rituals. The Broached Thurnel is a symbol that has been dropped from the ritual, while it is retained in the way an Entered Apprentice is taught to wear his apron.
The apron covers the genitalia’s region, thus isolating it from the rest of the body. In order to work properly to the glory of the Grand Architect, as we are taught, all freemasons must learn to subdue their passions within proper bounds.
Entered Apprentices wear their apron keeping the flap up: this further precaution is to protect the epigastrium, the part of human body which is immediately over the stomach. This is where the manipura chakra is located. The passions’ chakra corresponds to the solar plexus. The Entered Apprentice’s job is to learn to subdue his passions, for like the youth the degree symbolizes, the Entered Apprentice is considered unable to control incoming energies satisfactorily. Therefore, it is expedient that they protect themselves and the brethren adequately.
We have already noticed that the apron of the Entered Apprentice recalls the Broached Thurnel. This is a symbol which pertains to masters: the matter – the square – is turned into the spiritual: the triangle. The entered apprentice wears the apron with the top turned up to act as a ‘reminder’, showing to him the task which he must carry out. Conversely, Fellow Crafts and Master Masons keep the flap down: this means that the mental and the spiritual, respectively, closely interact with matter, as it happens in the symbolism of David’s star.
White gloves are the other item of the Masonic dress. In Italy, it is compulsory to wear them in each lodge’s meeting, as long as the meeting lasts. The only exception, is, when the brethren form the union’s chain at the close of lodge. In that case, hands must be bare so that the subtle energies of the Brethren can circulate more easily.
Gloves are symbol of purity: being hands symbol of human actions. Wearing the gloves reminds us of that purity and innocence with which we must work, performing only pure acts. Gloves, however, are also a tool: in the Temple everything is sacred, so nothing can be touched, but by pure hands.
It is worth noting that in old catholic liturgy, only popes and bishops could wear white gloves, thus evoking the hands of Jacob, that were covered with “the skins of the kids of the goats”.(1) We know that the name “Jacob” means “the substitute”, hence the idea of regeneration, of a new man that takes the place of the old one, like light which drives darkness away.
According the ritual of Grande Oriente d’Italia, the Entered Apprentice receives two pairs of gloves: one for himself and the other one for his “perfect lunar polarity”. He should give that other pair to the woman in whom he bears the utmost esteem. It is difficult to determine when this practice started, though there is a small hint in Pérau in 1742, though it is thought this use is far older.(2) Masonic history informs us that Bro. Goethe gifted his second pair of gloves to Mrs. Von Stein, remarking that “even if the gift was seemingly poor, nonetheless it had a particular feature, that is, it can be given by a Freemason “only once in his life”.
Master Masons should cover their head when they work in the third degree. The reason of this use lies in the esoteric feature of hair. Henry Allaix wrote that hair works like a receiving set, while beard and moustache are thought to emit energy.(3) In ancient times, Christian monks received a tonsure, which removed the hair on their heads, but they did not shave. So the master covers his head thus showing he refuses any external influences.
Other interpretations are however possible. From the ritual we are learned that the Lodge begins to work when it is properly tiled. On the other side, every human body is the “temple of the Holy Ghost”(4), so the Master Mason who covers his head actually tiles his own temple. Still today, in their temples where they are appearing before G-D, observant Jews wear the kippah, and in Italy many Master Masons do the same.
Last, but not the least, few words about the tunic. (fig. 1)
In Italy, during the two world wars, Freemasons wore it. The tunic is black, and its color reminds us of the importance of the hermetic work’s phase which is called Crow’s head, or nigredo.(5) There is a deep esoteric meaning in wearing the tunic, for it teaches the brethren to give up vanity and any outer difference. In wearing the tunic, they are really meeting on the level.
As is taught in the first degree, when the candidate is neither naked nor clad, it is not the outer qualifications that make a man a mason, but the inner. The tunic makes all equal. The tunic also resembles the symbol of death, the grim reaper. In this sense, the tunic represents to the candidate the death of profanity, the rebirth into the new light. The candidate is visually reminded of the death of the old, and thereby the rebirth, into the new.
Today, the tunic is worn by the Marshall when he escorts the Candidate into the Temple for the ceremony of initiation. The tunic’s shape stems from the cross of Malta, being a folded cross. (fig. 2)
We know that the cross can be inscribed in the square, symbol of matter, but also in the circle, symbol of spirit, thus alluding to the transformation which is gained by the initiate who has purified his heart and his mind and is therefore worthy to “ascend into the hill of Lord”.(6)
1) Genesis: 27,16
2) Gabriel Louis Pérau, L’ordre des Francs-Maçons trahi et les secret des Mopses révelé, 1742, quoted by Irène Manguy, La Symbolique maçonnique du troisième millénaire, Paris 2001. Italian translation 2004, p. 100, footnote 11.
3) Introduction à l’étude de la Magie, 1936
4) I Corinthians, 6: 19
5) See Chamber of Reflection in this Review, issue 6, June 2006
6) Psalm XXIV